Why study media?

Well, why not? Media has become one of the most influential factors of our time. The concept of media surrounds us on a daily basis. How do you think most of our knowledge of what goes on in the world is accumulated? In the news - hearing about that shooting that took place last week at that place, in that area; and all the tabloids broadcasting over the crazy lives of various celebrities? Rest assured that without the impact of media, half of the matters that take place around our world would surely go unnoticed.

Have you noticed that once the news talks about a certain matter, we are all aware? And once the news disregards of the once "breaking news" worthy reports, we forget about it? As professor Petit talked about in our first lecture, "Most of what we know comes from media apart from in body life experiences." As media becomes our reality, as it revolves around our daily lives, the ability to be aware of what is real and what simply is not about our world becomes clouded by the illusion that media tries to sell to us.

To be able to study just exactly how media continues to prevail around the world, the great extents that media goes through just to get a message across, the more we have a chance of combating the effect of what media is capable of pulling us into if we are not careful. Like Marshall McLuhan stated, "We make our tools and our tools make us."

Image source: Google Images.